Natural cytotoxic cells against solid tumors in mice. III. A comparison of effector cell antigenic phenotype and target cell recognition structures with those of NK cells.

Antisera directed to antigens present on natural killer (NK) cells such as Qa-2,3, Qa-5, NK-1.2, Ly 11.2, and Asialo GM 1 failed to eliminate natural cytotoxic (NC) cell activity from murine spleen cells, suggesting a heterogeneity of effector populations involved in natural cell-mediated cytotoxicity (NCMC). Cross-cold target inhibition studies demonstrated that certain similar recognition structures are present both on NK and NC susceptible tumor target cells.